Rhymes strikes accord in lawsuit

NEW YORK, May 22 (UPI) -- Rapper Busta Rhymes settled a lawsuit just before his Tuesday court appearance to try to convince a New York judge to toss the $100,000 judgment against him.

In his suit against Rhymes, Melvin Smith alleged he was beaten by the rapper and a body guard when he sought Rhymes' autograph in 2005.

Terms of the settlement reached Monday were not revealed, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

Rhymes, real name Trevor Smith, defaulted in the case in late 2006. In recently filed papers, he said he didn't know about the suit because he had never been served. Rhymes said Smith's process servers had mistakenly went to his ex-girlfriends home in Long Island, where his five cars were registered.

"While I own the property, I have no access to it," he said in his filing, explaining that he was under court order to provide a home for the mother of his three children with whom he has been engaged in a child-custody case.

In the same affidavit, Rhymes said he never assaulted Smith.